1Center for Oceans and Human Health, Pacific Research Center for Marine Biomedicine, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, MSB no. 205, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA.

Abstract

This paper overviews several examples of important public health impacts by marine microbes and directs readers to the extensive literature germane to these maladies. These examples include three types of dinoflagellates (Gambierdiscus spp., Karenia brevis, and Alexandrium fundyense), BMAA-producing cyanobacteria, and infectious microbes. The dinoflagellates are responsible for ciguatera fish poisoning, neurotoxic shellfish poisoning, and paralytic shellfish poisoning, respectively, that have plagued coastal populations over time. Research interest on the potential for marine cyanobacteria to contribute BMAA into human food supplies has been derived by BMAA's discovery in cycad seeds and subsequent implication as the putative cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/parkinsonism dementia complex among the Chamorro people of Guam. Recent UPLC/MS analyses indicate that recent reports that BMAA is prolifically distributed among marine cyanobacteria at high concentrations may be due to analyte misidentification in the analytical protocols being applied for BMAA. Common infectious microbes (including enterovirus, norovirus, Salmonella, Campylobacter, Shigella, Staphylococcus aureus, Cryptosporidium, and Giardia) cause gastrointestinal and skin-related illness. These microbes can be introduced from external human and animal sources, or they can be indigenous to the marine environment.

Upper left: life cycle of A. fundyense. Upper middle: distribution of cysts (number of cysts cm−3) in the upper 3cm of sediment derived from a 1997 survey of the Gulf of Maine [98] and surveys of the Bay of Fundy in 1981 (White and Lewis, 1982), 1982, and 1983 (data provided by Jennifer Martin, DFO). Upper right: schematic of the Maine Coastal Current, reprinted from McGillicuddy et al. [99]. Branch points are located at (1) Penobscot Bay, (2) Cape Ann, and (3) Great South Channel. Seven segments of the current are indicated: (E)astern, (J)ordan, (W)estern, (M)assachusetts, (S)tellwagen, (N)antucket, and (G)eorges Bank. Dashed white lines denote state boundaries of Maine (ME), New Hampshire (NH), and Massachusetts (MA). From Backer and McGillicuddy [100]. Reprinted with permission from Oceanography.